Feedback St Josephs Aberdeen student 2014

Name: Ellie

Message:

Hi Michelle. I one of the students who got the privilege to listen to your VERY emotional story and would just like to personally thank you so much for coming to Saint Josephs Aberdeen today and to express how much of an impact you have had on my future in a matter of 2 hours. It has really made it more realistic and put everything into perspective which is going to further assist me in making myself and others I'm in the car with, choose wise decision whilst driving. I can guarantee you, you will be the person I will think of if I go to make a silly decision whilst driving and I will realise it really isn't worth. Once again.. Thankyou for maybe even potentially saving my life.

Maitland High 2013

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback you have provided. Maitland High School values the contribution of the Roadwhyz team and strongly believes the program plays a vital role in promoting the importance of safe driving and safe choices amongst our teenage drivers/passengers.

We would most definitely like to book the program in again next year for the same time (if available). Could you please confirm a date for us for 2015?

Kind Regards

Kristen

MHS Attendance Manager | PDHPE Faculty | Maitland High School | PO Box 498 | East Maitland NSW 2323

Hunter Valley Grammar Teacher Feedback May 2013

Hi Michelle,

A huge thanks to you and your team for the presentations you did here yesterday.

I unfortunately was absent all of the morning dealing with assessments for my mum and hospital matters, so I missed your presentations.

The feedback has been so strong and positive - and I have had parents thanking the school for providing the day, as confronting as it was for many.

I really admire you for your ability to do what you do, and your passion around this vitally important topic.

Community Event Feedback December 2012

Hi Michelle,

Didn’t get a chance to speak with you after Community Event on wed nite. Thank you so much for what you and your colleagues are doing. The presentations while confronting and devastating, show the reality of “choice and Consequence” and hearing both yourself and Paul speak on your very personal and tragic experiences have a profound affect.

I was there with my youngest son James, my brother Dean and his 2 sons Bayley and Cooper and my other nephew Pierce. On the way home (I had James and Pierce with me) we talked about various parts of the nights events, both boys said that the video of real life crashes and death shocked them and the video at the end was “as bad”. I talked about the parts that as a mother made me cry and James said that when you were talking about going to the morgue and when your boys father went in first to see your sons and you heard him scream out, brought him to tears. When James and I were in the car alone, he said that he ‘hated’ how confronting it was.....we talked then about real life split second decisions and their impact, and how what we heard and saw that night is nothing in comparison to experiencing it in real life

Yesterday I meet with Dean again for coffee and we had James and Cooper with us. We started talking again about the night, Cooper ( 15yrs) said he was glad that his mum wasn’t there, I asked why and he said he couldn’t bare her to get that upset. It was a perfect opportunity to start the conversation again that you did on the night..about the impact on the ones that love you, family and friends, but at that moment I pursued the “mum”, when their child dies unnecessarily, the mere thought is devastating let alone the reality of it happening.

You have made such a strong impact on me and my family, thank you for that, and also for the many more conversations we will have now as a result of your powerful message.

From the bottom of my heart thank you again for all that you and the Roadwhyz Team do for our children.

Merry Christmas

Natalie

Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 5:40 PM

Cardiff High Feedback 10/2/2012

I am sending this email to you to say thankyou, for having the year 11 driving information day.My son (Brody Kirkbride) is in year 11 this year and attended.Brody has not stopped talking about it .He is at the moment learning to drive and before each lesson talks again and remembers things about that day and what he had saw in photos,and more importantly what the police officer had to say about what he had seen.I have great respect for this man and I know that Brody has the same respect.

The most important of all I would like to pass on a great thankyou to the lady that spoke about her two sons, that she has lost in an accident.I feel this lady has great courage to share this with these teenagers of around the same age as her sons,the loss of the most precious beings in her life.

No person can know or relate to an experience until it is happened to themselves.Thankyou for showing Brody what I found hard to explain as I am a mum and he is a teenager.

Glaucester High School Teacher Feedback 7/6/2011

Dear Michelle,

Thanks once again to the ROADwhyz team who today shared their experiences so honestly and powerfully. Gloucester High School students were very fortunate that you, Paul, Peter and Damian were able to visit and spread the ROADwhyz message. Our students were deeply affected and I'm sure will continue to think about and discuss what they heard and saw long into the future. You gave us all food for thought and I felt our students particularly appreciated and warmed to your team's non-judgemental, direct yet compassionate approach.

My son Luke (Year 11, L-plater) and I, over a meal at the local Chinese this evening, debriefed and shared our thoughts about the day -- Luke thought the program was 'straight up real', personal, confronting and thought-provoking .

ROADwhyz is definitely an outstanding program; a program all drivers (young and old) should experience at some point in their lives.

Michelle, Paul, Peter and Damian -- thank you for your generosity, honesty and wisdom.

Regards,

Lyndy Grey - English Faculty - Glaucester High School

Feedback from the segment shown on Channel 7's Sunday Night program - 20/2/2011

"If only all kids throughout Australia were able to have a program like this at their school. It would certainly open their eyes and make them realise that they are not invincible!!! All kids should be made to watch this episode!!"

I think this story should be shown in every school in Australia. Hopefully this will have a impact on these kids. Scare tactics is what is needed, we just want our kids to be safe an come home, when will they get it....

the reality is that the Australian and state governments and us as parents need to put more into education and prevention of younger drivers being let loose on our roads unaware of the dangers they lay ahead of them , more in school driver education more understanding of the car or motorcycle

being a 17 yr old male red p-plate driver i was mad to sit and watch this and honestly i was shaking my head,my standings is i wont drive my car until every ones belt is on also i dont drink...im not being cold i have no idea what it must feel to lose someone close,but come on guys

As a 21 year old, who has a large amount of friends into cars and things - this segment was extremely moving and eye opening and there was no way i was walking away from that tv with dry eyes. i congratulate everyone who spoke on the show, for their bravery

If only all kids throughout Australia were able to have a program like this at their school. It would certainly open their eyes and make them realise that they are not invincible!!! All kids should be made to watch this episode!!

Feedback from Sunday Night program 20/2/2011

Hi to all,.

Just e-mailing you about the story on SUNDAY NIGHT. I know its not a thing to get "excited" about but i was over the moon, to finally, on television, see a story so well put together to do with the trauma of a road smash.

I am a pretty hard nut when it comes to road trauma, i dont carry much sympathy at all when i see carnage on the road because it should not be happening. I feel for the poor buggers involved, injured or killed but i always ask myself, "WHY IS THIS STILL HAPPENING? WHY DOES CARNAGE SEEM TO BE AN EVERY DAY THING WE SEE, WE HEAR?"

I think what you all have put together is so well done. As hard as it would be, to re-live your own personal traumas, every day and to try and get the point across to school kids, is very much well worth the effort. As the saying goes, "sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind". If one persons trauma can help minmise the horrid effects of road trauma to someone else, it is a lesson well worth the mention.

I religiously had SUNDAY NIGHT penciled in my head, i was not going to miss that story and even this morning, i have watched it another 4 times and it still gives me a huge lump in the throat. To see Frank Auld so cut up, ( a good ol aussie hard bloke) i felt for him big time, but that is what is needed. So many think they are bullet proof , but a death can bring someone down to reality so dam fast. As sad as it is, it is an exceptional story that was put together.

Paul Alexander, the way he comes across is fantastic, blunt and straight to the point and it was easy to see how it was effecting some of those kids, they were thankfully, glued to what was being said and what was shown. To see them swallowing hard, some being escorted out, holding back the tears............ i cant say enough but well bloody done.

I had not heard of your website, so now i have it, i will be staying tuned. I am very passionate about road safety, i more or less live and breath it everyday. On a few things i have a very different opinion on, but end of the day, all i would love to see, is safer roads and to maybe help save someones life.

If you would like to look, these are a couple websites i am linked to:

http://journeybeyondroadtrauma.org/profiles/947

I have blogs about myself and my pretty destructive young days, also i have some video,s i have put together (very amateurish)

And Queensland Govt website:

http://hereforlife.qld.gov.au/sharemystory/mystories/list

Well this is way longer that i thought, but in all, good luck with what you have put together, its one of the best things i think i have seen.

In one breath, i wish i could re-wind the clock, go back to school and have you people come to my school. I think Paul & Michelle would have had a huge impact on even me and saved me from some of the bodilly damage.

Good luck with it all.

Darrell McG.

School feedback 2011

Michelle,

Just touching base to thank you for your valuable input and support of our senior students through the Road Whys program.

We recently had an exchange student leave Cardiff to return home and I asked her what her highlights of the year was. Amongst other (expected) responses she mentioned the Road Whys program. She said that the power of the presentations made on the Road Whys day have stayed with her, even after participating in the program early in term one of this year. This reaffirms to me the value of the messages you and the team have put out to our students and that the program does make a difference - well done on being able to convey such a strong message to our students.

We are very keen to continue this program into 2012 and would like to invite yourself and the team back to Cardiff HS. Regards

Craig Craig Maher Head Teacher PDHPE Vice President (Conference) NSW PDHPETA Cardiff High School

Newcastle High Feedback 1

Newcastle High School April 09

Teacher Feedback

Last week I was asked to supervise a group of year eleven students who were participating in the Roadwhyz program. I dutifully went along in my allocated timeslot and stepped straight into the most amazing experience of my teaching career.

The students were silently glued to a screen with graphic descriptions and visuals of a teenage road accident. There was a Chaplin, Police Officer, Rescue Officer and a small but intent looking lady in the room standing around looking not at the screen but carefully watching the students. Boxes of tissues were circulating and I quickly realised the power of this program.

I soon learned that the lady was Michelle, a mother, a mother who had lost her own children suddenly through a similar car accident. She was intent on ensuring that our students survive the risk of driving. All of the people presenting were intent on the same purpose. I'm sure the message was getting through.

The students heard from each of the people present, had opportunity to ask (and did) all kinds of questions from the seemingly trivial to the really hard and raw. They were provided with reading matter to support what was being presented , they were provided with emotional support and coping strategies, they had opportunity to speak with others and given the chance to realise the enormous responsibility of having a license.

I was only there for a short hour of the program but every student I have seen since is still talking about the program, every one that wasn't there has heard about how great it was, the staff are buzzing, it was the best program I have seen in a school ever.

Thank you for coming to Mount View High. I know that you have made a difference in the lives of the students here.

My own children attend junior years at Merewether High and Warners Bay High... I hope that your program is still running and gets picked up by these schools when they are of age to drive.

Good Luck Michelle.

Regards,

Liz Alder

Mount View High Teacher

Student Feedback

 To the roadwhyz volunteers,

I am writing to say thank you for coming to our school last week. Although the information you told us and the stories you shared with us were a really big eye opener and a reality shock it was extremely good to be brought down of our high horses to face the real world of what the wrong choices can change and the consequences that those wrong choices can have.

I hope that you continue educating young people about the life changing actions that can occur at the blink of an eye if they take their responsibility of driving for granted. We as young drivers need to remember that our license is not a right it is a privilege.

Yours Sincerely,

Sofie C.

Letter to the editor

Community Feedback

 Hi Michelle

Firstly I would like to commend you on running such a program and I would like to thank you for the invitation to attend.

I guess I first though that this will be a good education and just what she (Melissa) needs. As I had seen similar presentations before.

It would be hard to say that we both didn’t come away from there effected by what we seen and heard.

Although graphic I would not change a thing !!!

Melissa said she is going to drag all her friends to the next available presentation and she feels that every body should see and witness this type of presentation.

And I agree with her that not just the young, but people of all ages should attend at least once in there life.

I do recommend that young people should attend with a least one parent for support.

After all the young don’t have all the accidents. I think we can become complacent at times as we get older.

Thank you once again.

Warm regards

Melissa and Mick T.

Participant feedback

Hi Michelle,

my name is mel, im 17 yrs old,a few months into my red p's licence and a changed person the day i walked out of your roadwhyz program.

i went to your program a couple of months ago, with my dad, and was really touched after the talk and videos, never had i had such a wake up call, i wasnt a bad driver, but this just made me realise so many things, when u get your licence u feel almost invincible... but in a split second that can change. not just your life but someone elses, your parents, or your family, or someone elses family.

although the videos were graphic and the account from yourself was just incredibly touching and emotional it was well needed, there isnt a thing u need to change with the program. from the minute i went home that night i knew that i had friends that needed to see this, and family members, i was so shaken up that night, and so emotional from hearing about what you have gone through, and my deepest sorrys go out to yo.

Merriwa High Feedback Oct 2010